


On Wings of Golden Fire

by sleepyqueerboi



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Human, M/M, Nothing too graphic or gory, Some violence because fighting crime, Synesthesia, also mentions of abusive parents, because that would be gross, because that's the kind i have, like guns and knives and shit, more analogical because i swear it's all i can write, oh and there are serial killings, oh well, pretty gruesome but not explained or described in too much detail, specifically with grapheme-colour synesthesia, superpower au, there will be a synesthete character, there will be weapons, this fic is going to be very long whoops
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-11
Updated: 2018-10-13
Packaged: 2019-06-26 00:51:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15652401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleepyqueerboi/pseuds/sleepyqueerboi
Summary: When strange, gruesome murders begin taking place all over the world, nobody knows who or what could commit such horrid crimes, and the perpetrator shows no signs of stopping any time soon. At least, not until a group with unnatural abilities make themselves known.





	1. At Home

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to delve into the fantasy genre a bit more, so here it is! A superpower / superhero AU! I'll explain each person's powers as we go on, it would spoil the surprises in store if I told you them all now!

“In recent news, yet another vicious attack occurred early this evening, this time in Rome, Italy. A young boy was found, mauled in similar fashion to the other victims in Arizona, South Korea and Australia. No suspects have been stated for any of the murders as of yet, and the World Leaders refuse to make a statement or give any of the findings in this worldwide case. Once more, if you have any information regarding this gruesome string of murders, please call-” Virgil tuned out the news reporter as they started reciting the number for their station, staring at the tiny, flickering flame dancing on his fingertip, the only source of light in his room apart from the TV. He had been casually following the coverage of the most recent serial killings, which began when the disfigured corpse of a young lady was found in the middle of the street in Seoul, presumably killed by a wild animal. However, as more bodies popped up all over the world, it became evident that this was the word of a madman, even if the disfigurement of all the bodies appeared to be the work of savage animals.

 

Suddenly, there was a loud thudding coming up the stairs, and Virgil barely had time to curl his hand into a fist and snuff out the flame before the door swung open almost violently, blasting bright light into Virgil’s dark haven and momentarily blinding him.

“Virgie!” It was his younger sister, Katie. She was a lot shorter than him, standing at a staggering 4 ft 6, with dirty blonde hair pulled up into pigtails and a personality too big for her body. “Lizzie said that dinner’s nearly ready so you have to stop being so antisocial!” She smiled widely before skipping downstairs, her bright pink tutu-like skirt bouncing as she went. Virgil simply groaned, before slowly dragging himself off his bed and trudging downstairs, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his faded black hoodie.

 

Once he reached the dining room, he was met with multiple shouting voices, almost overwhelming him in an instant. He silently took his seat at one end of the table, slumping in on himself as the chatter of his siblings filled the room and he started moving food around his plate. He didn’t feel hungry, he felt sick, and slightly dizzy.

“Virgie!!” The voice of his youngest sister, Emma, brought Virgil out of his thoughts, and he looked up. She was holding her bowl out to him with a huge smile on her face, looking at him with hopeful silver eyes through her choppy, dark brown fringe. “My food’s cold!” With a sigh, Virgil took Emma’s bowl and began heating it up with his hands.

 

Virgil had what his younger siblings liked to call a superpower, although he never thought of it as something ‘super’. His body was unnaturally warm compared to that of a regular human’s, and he could use that warmth to heat up his surroundings or anything he touched. He had also recently found out he could make small flames dance upon his skin. However, he mainly just used his power to forgo the use of ovens and microwaves, nothing fancy.

 

After a few minutes, Virgil retracted his heat and gently placed the bowl back on the table in front of Emma.

“Don’t touch the bowl, it’s hot.” His voice came out deep and raspy from not speaking at all the whole day, and Emma simply nodded before she continued to eat. All four of his siblings knew about his heat ability, and were not afraid of him using it at will, although only Elizabeth, his older sister, knew about the fire that he had begun to conjure. 

“Virgil? Virgil!” He looked up from his hands at Elizabeth, who was sitting across from him, one hand absently twirling a piece of hair.

“Huh?”

“I was asking if you’re going to be out for dinner tomorrow evening. You’re going to see your friend, right?” 

“Patton, yeah. He’ll probably gimme some dinner while I’m there.” Elizabeth almost seemed to sigh in relief, and Virgil knew why. Less people to feed means using less money.

“Good, good. While you’re out could you get the usual groceries? We’re running low, and I’m too busy with work to get them tomorrow.” Virgil though for a moment before nodding.

“Sure thing.” Virgil took one more bite before getting up and cleaning his plate, leaving his leftover food in a ziplock bag for later. Then, Virgil headed for the stairs, pausing when he heard Elizabeth’s voice carry from the dining room.

“Okay, now that dinner’s over it’s time to clean up before bedtime stories!” There were several small cheers before the scraping of chairs, and Virgil chuckled softly to himself before going back to his room. He would need to get up early tomorrow and would rather get some amount of sleep before seeing Patton for the first time in weeks.


	2. A Colourful Friendship

/Virgil. Purple. Virgil. Purple. Purple. Purple./ Patton’s mind was racing as he stood in his kitchen cooking what would be considered a banquet by most people. Virgil hadn’t been in contact for weeks now, and Patton was determined to get him to eat as much as possible, as well as taking away all of the leftovers if possible. 

 

The doorbell rang and Patton immediately dropped what he was doing, running to the door and throwing it open. There stood Virgil, wearing his signature black hoodie that Patton had tried to change purple, but Virgil refused adamantly. Still, Patton pulled Virgil into an almost bone crushing hug as soon as he saw him.

“Virgil you’re here! It’s so good to see you!” Virgil chuckled softly, returning the hug.

“Hey, Pat, how are ya?”

“I’m great now that you’re here kiddo! I’ve missed you so much!” Patton slowly pulled away from the hug and closed the door, leaving the cold air outside. “How’s your family doing?”

“We’ve been good, Emma’s starting school soon and Lizzie’s gotten a new job so we’re getting some income in finally.”

“Oh that’s wonderful kiddo!” Patton smiled widely, before leading Virgil to the living room, where he had laid out trays of cakes, pastries and other sweet things. “Come on, let’s sit, we have a lot of catching up to do!” Virgil sat in his usual spot at one end of the couch, and looked over the trays.

“Pat, you didn’t have to make so much food-”

“Of course I did! I haven’t seen you in over a month!” Patton shushed him before going to the kitchen. “Usual drink?”

“You know it!” 

 

After making them both coffees, Virgil’s with heaps of sugar and milk, Patton sat back down with Virgil, and they talked about a whole range of topics: Virgil’s online art and music courses, Patton’s weird encounters at his job as a nurse at the nearby hospital, how both of their lives had changed since last seeing each other, and, as conversation dwindled down, the trays of food almost completely empty, they moved on to the recent news.

“There was another one last night, did you see?” Patton’s tone was hushed, as if he felt it was a forbidden topic of discussion.

“Yeah, I’ve been following all of them. It’s some proper scary shit.”

“Language…” Patton tutted, although Virgil just shrugged .

“Telling it like it is. Who do you think’s doing it?”

“I still think it’s an animal. No human could possibly do something like that.”

“But an animal going across the world? The killer’s human, I sure as hell know that.” Virgil ignored Patton’s stern look before leaning forward, his hands out in a motion used when telling ghost stories. “Maybe even a werewolf going on a frenzy.” Patton lightly hit his shoulder, knocking him back ever so slightly.

“Come on, Virg, I thought this was a serious conversation, werewolves don’t exist.” A comfortable silence fell over them after that, Patton resting his head on Virgil’s shoulder. “I always forget how warm you are, Virg.” Virgil let out a small chuckle and wrapped an arm around Patton’s shoulder. 

“My soul may be black and icy but the rest of me is toasty warm.” Patton pouted slightly, snuggling up closer to Virgil.

“Your soul isn’t as black as you think.”

“Huh, soul. Never did ask that one.” Patton yawned before answering.

“A hazy light blue, kinda like the ones in Soul Eater.”

 

This was a regular activity, where Virgil would call out random words and Patton would respond with colours. This was because Patton had associative grapheme-colour synaesthesia, a specific type of perceptual phenomenon where Patton would involuntarily see colours in his mind’s eye whenever he heard, saw or thought about letters, words and numbers, and it fascinated Virgil far more than any supernatural powers. 

 

And that was how they spent their evening, with Virgil giving random words and Patton answering with colours, until they both fell asleep right there on the couch.


	3. A News Bulletin

In the morning, Patton woke up early to make another feast for the pair of them, this time filled with breakfast pastries, pancakes, waffles and piles of buttered toast, so when Virgil awoke he was met with a plate of toast right under his nose.

“Pat, you-”

“Ah ah, while your presence is here you will eat at every mealtime, you’re too skinny as it is V.” Virgil sighed before taking the plate from Patton.

“Fine.” Patton smiled and sat down next to him, eagerly eating his own toast. They sat in silence, eating for a few minutes before Patton grabbed the tv remote.

“Do you mind if I put on the news?” Virgil shrugged.

“It’s your house, go ahead.” Patton smiled, pressing the ‘on’ button on the remote to turn the tv on and flicking through to the news channel, where there was a woman in a bright pink suit announcing the morning news.

“-We now bring you a recap of last night’s events. Multiple neighbours of a seemingly quiet office complex building near the south of the city called in a noise complaint at around 10:30 pm last night, and once police arrived, witnesses including the officers on scene saw what appeared to be a man with bird wings fleeing the building by air. There were traces of a fight when the police searched the building, however they have yet to find evidence of the other party involved, or whether this mysterious ‘bird-man’ was the attacker or victim.” Virgil’s mouth dropped open as both men stared at the television, almost not believing their eyes and ears. 

“A man… with fucking wings…” Virgil managed to whisper out.

“Virgil, watch your language,” Patton replied, more of a reflex than a true reaction. It took almost a minute before Patton spoke again, looking at Virgil with eyes full of hope. “But isn’t that incredible? There’s actually somebody out there with superpowers!” 

“How do we know that they’re super? They could be a villain or not even human. Who knows, it could be an angel of death seeking its victims.” Patton cringed away from Virgil before throwing a cushion at him.

“You always put such a creepy spin on things, you weirdo.” Virgil simply chuckled.

“What can I say, my mind is always in Halloween time.”

“It’s the middle of February.”

“And?” Virgil took a second to glance at the clock, and his eyes widened, realising how late it had gotten, and he stood up. “Oh shit, I have to take Bradley to theatre group today, I better get going.” Patton, for once, ignored the swear word as he too sprung up, making sure Virgil wouldn’t leave anything behind.

“Take the tub of food I left for you in the fridge!” Virgil sighed and grabbed the 2-litre plastic container from the fridge, sliding it into his bag as he rushed out the door.

“You’re going to make me fat, Pat, I swear. I’ll see you later!”


	4. Revelations

The theatre was, quite honestly, shabby in every sense of the word. The floor creaked at nearly every step, the stairs were rickety, and the stage lights only worked around forty per cent of the time, and yet Virgil’s younger sibling Bradley wouldn’t want to go anywhere else, so this was where he took them every other Saturday.

 

When Virgil entered the theatre, Bradley in tow, he noticed that for the first time since he had started bringing Brad here, that the middle spotlight was shining brightly on the stage, illuminating a couple of young teens who were awkwardly reading through what Virgil could only discern was a Shakespearean play. As Virgil closed the door, he noticed a head shoot up from the tech area, and someone that Virgil had never seen before strolled over, flashing a smile. 

“Hello there!” The man had a loud, rich, somewhat deep voice, and his eyes almost seemed to sparkle. “You must be Bethany, we’ve been waiting for you!” Both Virgil and Bradley visibly cringed at hearing the name, causing the man in front of them to raise an eyebrow.

“They’re exploring their gender identity,” Virgil explained, placing a hand on Bradley’s cap covered head. “Bradley knows they aren’t a girl, so we’re using neutral pronouns and the name they chose.” The man’s eyes lit up in understanding.

“Oh, of course, my apologies Bradley,” he smiled down at Brad, who gave a small, reassuring smile back. “Why don’t you go head on up to the stage, we’ll start casting for the new play soon.” Bradley nodded, before giving Virgil a wave and running off to the stage. Once Brad was well out of earshot, the man spoke again. “Your parents must be really accepting.”

“Wouldn’t know, we don’t live with them.” Virgil’s tone was harsher than he meant it to be, but it caused the man to freeze for a moment. “Haven’t seen you before, you new or something?”

“Ah, yes, I started last week actually! Roman Preston, newest stagehand,” Roman held out his hand, but Virgil ignored it, shifting his weight backwards slightly.

“Virgil.” Roman seemed almost taken aback by Virgil’s lack of using a surname, but he quickly covered up his shock. “Take care of my sibling, I’m leaving now.” Virgil turned to leave, but Roman quickly grabbed onto his shoulder as if to say something else. This caused Virgil to flinch away, his shoulder growing ice cold from the shock. He turned back around and saw Roman staring between Virgil and his own hand, confused, and Virgil sprinted out before Roman could say another word. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Patton was having an equally bad day as he paced his apartment, his hand clasped together as he tried not to shake. He should be sleeping, he had a graveyard shift at the hospital and he needed rest, but his mind was buzzing. There was a person out there who had wings, and the most likely solution, at least in Patton’s mind, was that this person had a superpower, and the thought of that sent a thousand different emotions swirling in Patton’s head. With a frustrated sigh, Patton sat on his couch and opened his hands, revealing the now larger ball of what appeared to most as a floating ball of ice-blue liquid, but Patton knew what it was. /Wings/. 

 

Patton refused to tell anybody, but he had more than just synaesthesia. He also had a power of his own, one he tried ever so hard to hide, however it consumed almost every aspect of his life. He had named it chromokinesis, as he had the ability to control colours. He could rip the colour off of any inanimate object, and it would gain a liquefied state, allowing him to manipulate it almost like a waterbender from Avatar. He could also pull colours from any word, like he was involuntarily doing now, due to his synaesthesia constantly planting colours into his head. 

 

Patton balled his fists, and the bubble of colour popped into nothingness. He would have to tell Virgil eventually, he knew that, especially if there was another human with powers running around, but how would he react? Would Virgil even believe him before showing him? Would he be disowned as a friend? The uncertainty sent chills down his spine, so he stood up and went to the bathroom, splashing some water on his face before looking at his reflection. His eyes were flashing in a whirl of different colours, another side effect of his power that he usually hid behind coloured contact lenses that did nothing for his eyesight. 

 

With a sigh, Patton dried his face and headed to his bedroom. He knew he needed rest, he could wait a little longer to tell Virgil about his power, at least until his next shift was over.


End file.
